A court in northeastern Kazakhstan has handed down a suspended prison sentence to a local man convicted of fighting alongside Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Authorities in the city of Semei said on September 20 that the man, whose name was not disclosed, was convicted of illegally participating in armed conflicts abroad, illegally possessing firearms, and gave him a 3 1/2-year suspended sentence.

According to the authorities, the man joined the separatists in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk in July 2016 and fought against Ukrainian government forces until December 2016.

At least three other Kazakh citizens have been jailed in Kazakhstan on similar charges since fighting between government forces and separatists broke out in eastern Ukraine in April 2014. The conflict has killed more than 10,000 people.

In November 2016, a court in the northwestern city of Aqtobe sentenced one of them, Maksim Yermolov, to three years in prison.